Stop Being Interchangeable

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2:06Jason:And here's something extra. They're offering a 25 % discount on the franchise fee for former teachers and veterans. Whether you're expanding your franchise portfolio or making your first investment, Mathnasium gives you the systems and support you need to succeed. Get your free franchise information kit at mathnasiumfranchise.com or call 888-763-2604. That's mathnasiumfranchise.com or call 888-763-2604. From Entrepreneur Media, this is Problem Solvers. a show that solves entrepreneurs' toughest problems. I'm Jason Pfeiffer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, and each week I take a problem that you're probably dealing with and get tactical solutions from people who have been there and solved that.

3:01Jason:So, let's get solving. I got an email the other day from a listener who's a realtor, and this realtor has been doing really well for many, many years in the area where they operate. But this year, just business dropped. And they're kind of freaked out and they can't figure out exactly what the problem is, except that they know that the thing that made them special before no longer seems to. That deep knowledge of the city in which they operate in, which seemed to once just win over clients, doesn't seem to win them over anymore. Doesn't even seem to drive the same amount of inbound as before. And she emailed me to ask why, like what's going on?

3:49Jason:And more importantly, if the thing that made her stand out before no longer makes her stand out, well, then what does make her stand out? And I tell you this because I've heard versions of this problem from so many people in so many ways. It's the person looking for a promotion. It's the entrepreneur who wants to charge higher prices. It's the person who just wants to become more in demand in some way or figure out how to stand out from a pool of applicants. All these people, and maybe you relate to this too. So you, you work hard, you do good work, but you're not seeing the recognition or the compensation you want.

4:30Jason:You're not standing out. Well, here is what might be missing. People may see you as interchangeable, but you must become singular. Today, I'm going to explain the difference between these two ways of being in the world, and I'm going to show you how to move from low value to high value by making yourself irreplaceable. This is a concept I've been thinking about a lot, have been writing about a lot, have been talking about a lot, but haven't yet put on this podcast. So today, it's another solo episode where I'm going to do just that. And I'm going to do it in two ways. First, I'm going to introduce you to this idea of interchangeable versus singular, and we're going to talk about some of the ways to shift towards being singular.

5:17Jason:And then after that, we're going to deep dive into one of those ways that I was talking about. So all right, first, before we get to any of that, let me tell you about the moment in which this idea really crystallized for me. When I became editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine in 2016, I started getting invitations and opportunities like I had never before. It was exciting. I had a fancy title and people respected it. But I quickly realized that this situation was unstable. I was renting the title of Editor-in-Chief. I don't own Entrepreneur Media and the title could be taken away from me at any time.

5:52Jason:I don't want to rent, I decided. I want to own. But own what? I needed something that I could carry with me long after my time at Entrepreneur ended. And then I realized the best thing to own is me. If I could turn myself into an asset that people wanted all by myself, then I would own something that could never be taken away from me. I wouldn't need someone else's title or position. This meant that I needed to be known for something that was distinct from just running a media brand. So I started writing a newsletter. I made podcasts like this one. I I grew a presence on LinkedIn, began keynote speaking.

6:31Jason:And then when I wrote a book, that is when the whole vision really snapped into place. And here's why. It was the speaking fee revelation. So, okay, everyone told me when you write a book, your speaking fees will go up. I never understood why this would be true until I experienced it firsthand myself. Here's what happened. Clients would reach out to me wanting to hire me for a keynote. And so, you know, we'd get on the phone, we'd talk, and then I would ask how they heard about me. And it was very interesting. If they said, oh, we Googled for a speaker and we found you, well, then it turns out their budget for me was smaller.

7:09Jason:But if they said, ah, my boss read your book, or I read your book, or my board member read your book, or whatever, someone read the book, then their budget for me was much higher. At first, I thought, why? What is the connection here? And then it made total sense. If they were Googling for speakers, then they were looking at a wide range of what were essentially interchangeable options. They wanted someone who fit the bill, who fit the theme, the thing that they wanted. And if I was too expensive, they would just find someone else, right? Just one of many. But if they were instructed to book me in particular, if someone there just wanted me, well, then they were willing to spend more, spend whatever it takes to get me.

7:54Jason:Success for them would come from booking me, not just any interchangeable person. And now, if we look at that and we think, well, what economic principle can I draw from that? It is this. You don't pay premium prices for interchangeable things. You only pay that for the thing you really want, for the person you really want. And this is when I understood the difference between being interchangeable and being singular. and I became obsessed with singularness. I mean, let's look at this from a basic supply and demand standpoint. If you are one of many people who can do the same task, then there are a lot of you in the marketplace.

8:34Jason:Supply is high, price is low. But if you can position yourself as singular, distinct because of your ideas, abilities, or positioning, or whatever, well, now you've created scarcity in the marketplace. There's only one of you, and people are willing to pay more for something that is scarce. And this applies everywhere. Just think about it. It's the accountant who specializes in your industry versus any industry. More valuable. It's the designer who has a distinctive style versus someone who can make things look nice. More valuable. It's the consultant who has a proven methodology versus someone with general expertise.

9:06Jason:Again, that proven methodology, more valuable. It's the employee who solves problems that others can't versus someone who just, you know, does their job well. Again, who's more valuable? The last one, by the way, real example. I was just speaking. I was down in Atlanta talking to a team of corporate sales leaders, and I asked them to identify what makes them unique. And one leader in the room raised his hand and he said, I specialize in ambiguous problems. I asked him what that meant. And he said, I'm the guy who people turn to when they have a problem, but they can't exactly figure out what the problem even is, right?

9:39Jason:Like they see that something's gone wrong, sales are down, but they don't know why. I can figure out where things are going wrong and then craft solutions. and that's what I've become known for. That's what he said. And I love that. That is the very definition of singular. Lots of people at the company are problem solvers, which makes their skill interchangeable. But this guy is singular, the one person who can solve the stickiest problems, which means that no matter what happens at his company, I think his value will only rise. So let's talk about how to become singular. Right now, ask yourself, how are you at risk of being interchangeable.

10:14Jason:Maybe you're the marketing person instead of what you should be, which is the person who understands how to market to Gen Z. Or maybe you're a good manager instead of what you should be, which is the manager who turns around struggling teams. Or maybe you're a freelance writer instead of what you should be, which is the writer who makes complex topics fun and shareable. Notice what all these examples have in common. They are a combination of skills and insights. You're not just the person who can do something, you're the person who uniquely understands something. And here are a couple key strategies to getting there.

10:48Jason:Number one, you can develop a unique perspective. You don't want to just have expertise. You want to have opinions. What do you believe about your field that others don't? What approach do you take that's different? Number two, you can combine unexpected elements. Maybe you're not the best marketer or the best data analyst, but you can be the best marketer who deeply understands data analysis. I mean, that combination makes you singular. You can, number three, own a specific problem. Instead of being someone who just helps people grow or whatever, you can become the person who helps SaaS companies reduce churn in their first 90 days.

11:26Jason:Right? You're owning a very specific problem because specificity creates singularity. Number four, you can build your own platform. Whether it's a newsletter, podcast, social media presence, having your own voice gives you power. When people are listening to you, you stand out. So you see the pattern here. You're not just a person who does something. You have to become the person. You control the market. Please remember this. When you are interchangeable, you're really at the mercy of the market. You compete on price, availability, and basic competence. But when you're singular, you control the market.

12:01Jason:That changes everything about your value, your opportunities, and your career. So you want to know why people pay me to speak or sit on their advisory boards or consult on their content strategies? It's really just because someone somewhere said these words out loud. We should get Jason Pfeiffer. And I have basically spent the last 10 years teaching people to say that simple sentence. And that sentence now feeds my family. The more singular you become, the more in-demand you become. the more you can charge, the more control you have over your work and your life. So stop trying to do what everyone else does.

12:38Jason:Start being the only person who does what you do. Be singular. All right. So now that I've laid that out, I now want to dig into one specific area of what I just talked about, which is that I said it before, like your expertise isn't enough. You also have to be known for your ideas. Isn't that an interesting shift? Just consider it for a second. We spend so much time just trying to be good at something, but we don't really think about how the way in which we articulate our ideas or our insights or our perspective are selling points by themselves. Not just the ideas, but the way in which they are articulated.

13:20Jason:And now I'm going to dig deeper. I'm going to show you how to do that by transforming your existing knowledge into perspectives that seem uniquely yours. and I will explain why it makes you exponentially more valuable. But first, I'm going to tell you about a big meeting I recently had where all of this was put into practice so you can just see it get played out. So I recently had lunch with a very famous person. They want to be on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine and their publicist was hoping that I would like them and then say yes. And truth be told, I really dislike pitch meetings like this because when someone pitches me, they're viewing me as just another magazine editor.

13:55Jason:some random guy with a certain job who might give them what they want. I'm interchangeable. I said yes anyway, because the lunch at least sounded interesting, but I arrived with a mission. I wanted to create a genuine personal connection so that they don't just see me as a random editor guy. I want them to see Jason Pfeiffer, because that's the starting point of interesting relationships and potential business opportunities. So I arrive at that lunch, we sit down, some niceties. And then the famous person pitches me their business and I listen patiently. This is how it all goes. And then the famous person mentions navigating some challenges and mistakes recently.

14:34Jason:And I said, have you ever heard of the pratfall effect? Because you'd find it helpful. And the famous person said, what's that? And then I explained. The pratfall effect is a psychological phenomenon in which mistakes make people more likable, as long as those people are already viewed as competent. He was fascinated. He started taking notes. Soon he was asking me for advice on other things, and I was introducing him to many of my own concepts, things that I've come up with that I've written about many times, like my messy couch principle, a framework for brand storytelling, my method for making difficult decisions.

15:06Jason:The conversation, which was only supposed to go like an hour, it lasted hours, easily north of three. By the end, he floated working together on his business. Now, here's why this worked. Remember, just a few minutes ago, I was talking about the difference between being interchangeable and being singular. When you're interchangeable, you're one of many people who can do similar work. And when you're singular, you're viewed as distinct and unique and your value increases. So how do you become singular? At CLA, we're in your corner and on it. We coach tax strategies and Little League First Base.

15:43We help you adopt AI data tools, and we adopt rescues named Buddy. We walk your factory floor and jog the local 5K, though sometimes we walk that too. Wherever you're coming from, we're right there with you. Wherever you're going, we'll get you there. CLA, CPAs, consultants, and advisors. Learn more at claconnect.com slash with you.

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16:54Jason:This brings us back to the point that I made a minute ago. People often think that their skills and expertise alone make them stand out. but actually the winning formula is expertise plus perspective. And here's why. Many people share the same expertise, but when you introduce a unique way of seeing a problem, your solution is the one that stands out. For example, imagine that someone tells you that they have a problem and you respond in one of two ways. The first response is you declare yourself an expert in the subject and you rattle off a ton of knowledge. And response number two is that you say something like, ah, yes, that is what I call the, and then you like give it a name, the unique name problem.

17:33Jason:And here's my five-step process for solving it. Okay, the first response proves your expertise, but the second one demonstrates your unique approach to implementing that knowledge. And I call this ownable ideas. It's a way of framing your expertise that feels distinctively yours. By introducing a unique perspective, you give people a new way to see the things in their lives. Now they are literally thinking about their problem through your framing using your language, which means that they trust your solution the most and they want access to your playbook. You just became singular. In fact, you could argue that this is exactly what I've been doing this entire podcast episode.

18:19Jason:I mean, let's just get meta for a second. You know, when I'm telling you my concept of singular versus interchangeable, it's not a unique idea. I'm basically just saying that you need to stand out. But because I gave it memorable language and then followed up the idea with distinct and tactical guidance, I've created the following perception. You now think, number one, this is my idea. Number two, I'm the expert on this approach to career development. And then number three, I uniquely understand the solution and have answers that others don't. And if you want to see how powerful this is, here's one little piece of evidence of payoff.

18:55Jason:Everything that you're hearing today comes out of a newsletter that I write. It's called One Thing Better. Each week, one way to be more successful and satisfied, build a career or company that you love. I share these kinds of ways to stand out, to improve your work, to become more effective as a communicator and a connector and so on. And anyway, I wrote about being singular and interchangeable a couple of weeks ago on the newsletter. By the way, you can get the newsletter, I should have said, at one thing better dot email. That's a web address. Just plug it into a browser one thing better dot email.

19:30Jason:Anyway, one thing better dot email. So I write this newsletter about being singular versus interchangeable. And then you know what happened after that? multiple people booked consulting sessions with me so that I could help them become singular because suddenly they saw me as the person with the answers to a problem that I defined, but that they feel like they have. See that? That is the power of being singular. So you're ready to do this for yourself. It is easier than it sounds. I'm going to talk about how to make your ideas ownable. You are already skilled and accomplished. You already know lots of things.

20:10Jason:Now you just need to step back, consider what you know, and shape it in ways that sound unique. Here are the key techniques that I use. So number one, give your approaches names. I do this all the time. For example, I don't say you should take more risks in life because that's boring and obvious. Instead, I say, here's what I call the messy couch principle because now it's ownable and memorable. Number two, I create multi-step frameworks. To do this, just step back for a second and think about a time you helped someone. And then break down what you did for them, the process that you went through, into numbered steps so that you could eventually say to someone, here is my four-part system for fixing this or whatever, right?

20:54Jason:That sounds way more ownable than general advice. Number three, you can pair insights with memorable concepts. You can connect your advice to interesting research, historical examples, scientific principles that most people haven't heard of, which instantly makes you sound smarter. Number four, you can use specific language consistently. Develop your own vocabulary for describing problems and solutions like I'm doing here with singular and interchangeable. When you consistently use the same terms, people start associating those concepts with you. And then number five, you can tell an origin story.

21:29Jason:Explain how you developed your approach. I mean, I did that at the beginning of this episode. I discovered this when, or, you know, after working with hundreds of clients, I realized dot, dot, dot, whatever. It just makes your insight feel like a unique discovery. And this is easier than it sounds, because I know this can sound foreign and exhausting. You're not used to this kind of thing. This is not how you communicate. But I promise it's not that hard. You're not reinventing how you talk. You're just becoming a better storyteller. And here's a great way to start. Just test ideas out in the real world.

22:01Jason:You can post your concepts on LinkedIn, see if people respond, or slip some frameworks into conversations with clients and see how they react. You already know your stuff, I am sure. You just aren't saying it in the most unique way possible. When you make your ideas ownable, you become the person who has the ideas everyone else wants access to. And that is at least the starting point. And again, if you want more like this, I'm digging even deeper into this idea of being singular and being interchangeable and how to do it and some other communication techniques and so on. It's all in my newsletter.

22:40Jason:So go subscribe to that one thing better dot email. Just plug that right into a browser. One thing better dot email. From Entrepreneur Media, this is Problem Solvers, a show that solves entrepreneurs' toughest problems. I'm Jason Pfeiffer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, and each week I take a problem that you're probably dealing with and get tactical solutions from people who have been there and solved that. So, let's get solving. Business owners, game day isn't just another shift. It's your biggest opportunity. What you show on your screens decides where fans stay. EverPass brings premium live sports together in one streaming platform built for businesses, so you can deliver the games your customers want without the hassle.

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